novelraw Chapter 969: Sand into Sea
Chapter 969: Sand into Sea
Night.
Outside the Chen Family manor, Dayu used 25 paintings to attack, but unexpectedly discovered that the garrison troops had been withdrawn at some point!
The entire Chen Family manor was unusually quiet in the darkness, as if it had become a haunted house.
Dayu froze in place: "Why is there no guard?"
"Don't keep dwelling on these things. No matter how many doubts you have, you have to go in," said Zard.
The two of them charged towards the interior of the manor. The butler, who had served the Chen Family for 36 years, stood by the roadside, smiling at Dayu and Zard: "Good evening, young masters. Welcome home."
Dayu sneered: "Someone who has already been made into a puppet, still acting here?"
The butler smiled slightly: "Are you two really going to be enemies with me? It's truly regrettable."
The butler showed no intention of attacking, and Dayu didn't want to kill the man who had taken care of him since childhood, so they continued to move forward, searching for his mother, Chen Ningzhi.
As Dayu and Zard went inside, the butler stood alone in the darkness of the manor, watching their backs. He was like an NPC in a game, quietly watching everything.
Eerie.
Along the way, Dayu encountered more than 30 familiar faces: maids, cooks, gardeners, guards.
They stood by the roadside, smiling eerily, each repeating the same sentence: "Are you two really going to be enemies with me? It's truly regrettable."
Zard's hair stood on end: "How is this guy like a ghost, haunting us? What does he want to do?"
"Don't worry about him, let's find my mother and leave!" said Dayu.
Qing Chen had the syringe, because it was the most important Forbidden Artifact against the Puppeteer, so it couldn't be lent to Dayu. It had to be kept in the safest place.
Therefore, Dayu's plan was, regardless of whether his mother, Chen Ningzhi, had already become a puppet, as long as he could forcibly take her away, she could still be saved.
Arriving at the villa in the center of the manor, Dayu used the swifts to scout ahead, but found that the entire villa was empty. Only the Chen Family Head, holding Chen Ningzhi, stood smiling in the center of the villa.
Dayu didn't have a deep relationship with his grandfather. The old man had always wanted to seize power from Chen Yu and didn't care much about family affection.
But his mother, Chen Ningzhi, was different. While others were vying for power, she took the young Dayu away from City 7, traveling far and wide, seeing many mountains and rivers, and meeting many rare animals.
Catching cicadas in summer, building snowmen in winter, flying kites in spring, picking fruits in autumn.
Dayu's childhood was happy.
His life was not like those who struggled in the depths of a wealthy family. It was exceptionally fulfilling and free.
So when he faced the choice, he ultimately chose to return to the Chen Family manor and take the risk.
Dayu knew this decision was wrong, but in this world, one doesn't always have to make the right decision.
The Chen Family Head, who was already a puppet, smiled slightly: "You want to take away your mother? How about we make another deal. Kill the guy next to you, Zard, and I'll give you your mother."
"Is this game fun?" Dayu said coldly: "I understand now. It's because you are not a real human, you have no humanity, so you want to see humans become like you, right?"
The Chen Family Head was stunned: "This view is quite in line with my mentality."
Dayu said: "But not all bio-androids are like you. Qing Family ancestor, Qing Zhen's bio-android, is very humane."
The Chen Family Head shook his head: "He was created with the blood of the gods and was a complete being from the start."
"No, whether you have humanity has nothing to do with whether you have the blood of the gods," Dayu said: "I'm sure my mother is already your puppet, but it doesn't matter, we have a way to cure her."
The Chen Family Head exclaimed: "Qing Chen is indeed the biggest hidden danger. He actually got this Forbidden Artifact."
Earlier, when Qing Chen saved Qin Shuli and those puppets, he used a syringe. The Puppeteer could only feel his puppets disappearing and reappearing in large numbers.
At that time, he suspected Qing Chen had a Forbidden Artifact that could restrain him, but he wasn't sure.
Dayu stopped talking nonsense with the Puppeteer: "Zard, grab my mother, let's get out of here!"
But Chen Ningzhi smiled and said: "Today's little episode is quite lively and interesting, but it's unlikely you two will be able to get out."
They turned sharply to look outside, only to see an elderly Chen Family painter slowly walking in at the entrance of the manor. Behind him was a car.
The Chen Family painter took out scrolls from the car and tore them one by one, tearing up 200 of them in one breath!
The Chen Family painter, who had already become a puppet, smiled: "To keep you two, I'll pay my respects with 200 scrolls."
The next moment, 200 Flying God Woman, wearing red silk, floated in the air, swaying gracefully, their bodies slender.
These were 200 A-Class paintings. How could Dayu and Zard win?
In just a glance, Dayu's 25 A-Class paintings were surrounded by the Flying God Woman.
In just three breaths, they were crushed by almost ten times the number of opponents. This was a gap that even the Restorative Shroud couldn't make up for.
Dayu's pupils constricted, and he suddenly realized a problem. The paintings were disposable. The opponent could take out 200 at once, meaning they probably had ten times more, or even dozens of times more.
As Qing Chen predicted, infiltrating the Chen Family was the Puppeteer's best choice!
Once Qing Chen and the Roosevelt Kingdom fought to the death, the Puppeteer would become the biggest winner. Then he could control the world through the Chen Family painters' continuous "army production'.
Dayu sighed: "Zard, I've implicated you. We shouldn't have come back."
But just as he was dejected, Zard said: "We have to go back alive. We have to pass the news here to the Boss. We must let him know there are other hidden dangers. Also, you must not let the Puppeteer get your Restorative Shroud."
The buildings around Zard were gradually turning into sand. The entire villa was like a castle built of sand, with sand falling rustlingly, and the roof gradually disappearing.
His spiritual will was continuously merging with the world, trying to forcibly break through.
Zard's hair was turning red one by one, but the threshold of Demi-God was not something anyone could cross. His hair turned back to black one by one.
"Get out!" Dayu roared.
Zard stirred up a huge sand wave, forcibly separating the Chen Family Head and Chen Ningzhi.
A giant sand hand appeared in the sand, grabbing Chen Ningzhi and sending her to Dayu: "Run!"
Chen Ningzhi had fainted. Dayu took out the black leaf vine from his Space Ring, wrapped it around his mother's hands, and carried her towards the outside.
Zard used the sandstorm as a screen behind him to block the sight of the 200 Flying God Woman.
The two frantically ran towards Zone 3, where the Guardians' Union's Key Gate was waiting!
However, as they fled, they saw the Chen Family butler standing by the roadside, smiling.
Seeing their desperate escape, he simply smiled and said: "Judging from the direction, you two are going to Zone 3 to find the Key Gate, right?"
Dayu knew something was wrong. The other party actually knew about the Key Gate!
He shouted to Zard: "Don't go to Zone 3. Use the backup plan Qing Chen gave you, and just charge out of the city!"
The two broke out of the manor and merged into the bustling city.
But they saw that the 200 Flying God Woman had already broken through the sand curtain. They suddenly dispersed, forming a large net in the sky, covering Dayu.
City residents saw 200 Flying God Woman shuttling through the city, chasing their target, breaking through one holographic projection after another.
When the huge holographic image was projected, they seemed to be traveling through a world where mammoths, blue whales, magic, and fireworks coexisted, gorgeous and magnificent.
Dayu and Zard went through the crowd and suddenly dived into a building.
They quickly arrived at the underground parking lot and ran towards B2.
The underground parking lots of Cyber City 7 were almost integrated into a whole, with supporting columns holding up the ground, making the city more efficient.
This also created a maze-like underground parking garage. The Flying God Woman lost their broad vision and could only follow them into the maze.
"B14 direction!"
"C38 direction!"
"F13 direction!"
Dayu was running wildly, holding a piece of paper, identifying the signs in the underground garage, freely shuttling through the crisscrossing passages.
The note was given by Qing Chen. According to Qing Chen, as long as they followed this path, the exit was on the edge of the city!
Gradually, the Flying God Woman were left behind.
A-Class paintings' strength is between A-Class Gene Soldiers and real A-Class Metahumans, so their speed wasn't as fast as Dayu and Zard.
In this huge underground maze, if they lost sight of Dayu for even a few seconds, he might disappear.
They had to disperse into various passages to search again.
The Chen Family Head stood in the Chen Family manor and smiled: "It's interesting. He actually used environmental factors to the extreme. It must be Qing Chen's plan, so well-prepared... but useless."
...
...
Dayu carried his mother through the underground garage. He lowered his voice and said: "If... I mean if we really can't escape, then you use earth escape, take the Restorative Shroud and my mother away, okay?"
Earth escape wasn't omnipotent. When Zard used earth escape, there would be traces on the ground. If he took two more people, the speed would definitely not be faster than the Flying God Woman.
If the Restorative Shroud fell into the Puppeteer's hands, it would be a terrible disaster.
At this time, Dayu looked at the note and said: "Turn back! Go from H291!"
Zard howled: "Why go back to die?"
Dayu: "That's what Qing Chen wrote on the note."
When the two turned back, they saw three scattered Flying God Woman coming towards them.
The God Woman hit Dayu's chest with the red silk in her hand, but Dayu, despite being injured, didn't stop. Beside him, more than 300 swifts, like bullets, pierced through the Flying God Woman.
Dayu continued to run back, without even looking at the fallen Flying God Woman.
They were gradually forming a siege, about to block the two's path at the next intersection.
But Dayu and Zard suddenly turned back, going back the way they came, and forcibly killing their way out of the encirclement...
The formation of the Flying God Woman was instantly pulled and deformed, and there were few who could keep up with Dayu and Zard!
When they reached Zone Z341, Dayu said: "This is it!"
The two opened a sewer manhole cover. Behind the door was the city's sewage channel, wide enough to be a one-way lane.
Dayu closed the manhole cover and carried his mother forward through the water. The sewage channel was foul-smelling, and there was mud underfoot, but none of that mattered anymore.
Zard laughed happily: "We really saved her."
Dayu was silent for two seconds before saying: "Thank you."
"Why thank me?" Zard said: "You were my boss!"
Dayu: "Thank you for reminding me that I was your boss!"
At this time, the two saw red lights flashing in the dark sewage channel. Dayu looked closer: "It's a life sign detection device, to prevent people from "smuggling' through the sewage channel. Go, we don't have time."
The two ran again.
Zard sighed as he ran: "When my parents were in a car accident when I was a child, before I got sick, the teacher asked everyone to write down their dreams. Others wanted to be astronauts, teachers, doctors, lawyers, but I wanted to be a scientist."
"There's nothing special about your dream," Dayu complained.
Zard laughed: "My dream is to be a scientist, to build a time machine, to go back to the summer night of my parents' car accident, to tell them not to leave, or to go with them. Later, whenever there were experts on the news saying that time travel was impossible, I hated them."
In the dark drainage channel, only the sound of wading remained. Over the years, Zard's mental state gradually lost control until he was sent to a mental hospital by his relatives.
He wasn't very willing to face reality because reality wasn't warm.
Zard looked at Dayu and smiled: "So, if you have the chance to save your mother, you must save her, otherwise you'll regret it. There's really no time machine in this world. If you do something you regret, you'll regret it for a lifetime."
At this moment, Zard was unusually normal, more normal than ever before, almost unlike him.
When the two walked out of the sewage channel, Dayu saw the Flying God Woman already suspended in the sky, including more than 30 A-Class Fire God Zhu Rong.
These gods blocked their path, making it impossible to move forward.
Dayu sighed: "You guessed we couldn't escape, right?"
No wonder Zard suddenly became normal, because he knew he had to stop escaping and face reality.
Zard nodded: "Yeah, the Boss said that if you see a life sign detection device in the sewage channel, it means we've been seen through."
Dayu said to himself: "I'll stall for time. You use earth escape and leave. Take my Space Ring with you. The containment condition is that you must use a Forbidden Artifact to feed it before it can recognize its master."
The world's only Space Ring, but it requires another Forbidden Artifact as an offering to contain it, the cost is enormous!
Dayu's paintings had been restored by the Restorative Shroud. However, just as he was about to take off his Space Ring, he heard Zard laugh: "You go. Whether it's a mother without a son, or a son without a mother, it's sad. I have no worries. Even on the battlefield, soldiers like me are better suited to being suicide squads."
Dayu: "Shut up, listen to me at this time..."
But as soon as he finished speaking, he saw quicksand appear under his feet.
Zard whispered: "If you die, Xiaoyu will die too. Go, don't look back. Remember to use that long sword to play songs for Xiaoyu. I found it can record. Now the songs in it are all sung by me."
Dayu was stunned. No wonder Zard had been singing to the red long sword whenever he had free time. It was to record his singing into the long sword.
The soft sand quickly swallowed Dayu, and Zard threw the red long sword in as well. The quicksand carried Dayu and Chen Ningzhi and quickly rushed towards the outer perimeter.
Thirty Fire God Zhu Rong wanted to melt Dayu underground, but their red flames had already been sprayed out, when they saw huge sand waves like tsunamis rising into the sky, forcibly blocking all the flames!
Outside the city, the old Chen Family painter smiled: "It's touching, but they shouldn't be able to hold their breath for too long underground. They'll have to come out from underground. Once you're killed, they won't be able to escape either."
Zard shook his head: "You can't kill me."
When he chose to drop his disguise and face the world, it was like a child suddenly raising a military flag and growing up.
The child longed every night to return to that summer, as if as long as he didn't grow up, that summer would never end.
But today he finally knew he couldn't go back.
The child was not afraid.
He chose to grow up because he had to protect others!
Zard's spiritual will soared to the sky!
Xiaoyu always liked to ask Zard in the mental hospital, "Brother Zard, are you very powerful?" Zard would laugh loudly and answer, "Of course!"
Zard smiled: "I'm really powerful."
The next moment, his hair turned red again, and a huge hand suddenly rose from the ground, lifting Zard into the sky.
"Merge!"
The Flying God Woman and the Fire God Zhu Rong flew in the sky. The ground beneath their feet turned into sand, like the calm surface of the Forbidden Sea. In an instant, a huge mouth opened in the abyss, as if a huge whale was leaping up from there.
The gods were surprised and wanted to increase their altitude, but they were caught off guard and swallowed hundreds of Flying God Woman!
The sand on the ground returned to silence, as if the abyss and the hundreds of Flying God Woman had never existed!
At this moment, Dayu was just thrown out of the ground three kilometers away, preventing him from suffocating underground.
Turning his head, Dayu saw this shocking scene.
He wanted to rush back, but saw Zard looking from afar, smiling and mouthing: "Go."
Go, don't waste my efforts, live with Xiaoyu.
The Puppeteer sent 30 Flying God Woman to chase Dayu, while the old Chen Family painter said softly: "Burning life to become a Demi-God, really unexpected."
Speaking of which, he actually chose to tear up 200 paintings again!
Dayu was desperate, and Zard said again: "Go."
At this moment, Zard's spiritual will soared again. The sand under his feet shot outwards one by one, like bullets, hitting the gods like a violent storm in the sky.
The gods were temporarily unable to approach, and some gods were even accidentally pierced and fell by the sand.
In the history of Federation Metahumans, there had never been an Earth Element Awakener who had reached the Demi-God level. Now, there was.
With Zard as the center, dozens of sand tentacles suddenly rose from the earth.
Zard was like the top predator in the Forbidden Sea, using his tentacles to drag the gods into the soil and bury them!
The Fire God Zhu Rong sprayed flames, trying to melt the sand.
But the problem was that this kind of restraint only existed between the same level!
When a Fire God Zhu Rong melted the sand tentacle it attacked into glass glaze, new tentacles grew from the glaze!
The terrifying tentacles extracted Zard's life and will, continuously growing!
The Chen Family painter saw this scene: "It's a good thing it's solved now, otherwise it'll be a lot of trouble later."
At this time, he saw Zard's hair gradually drying up, and his life was coming to an end.
The Chen Family painter asked: "You can't hold on much longer, what are you waiting for?"
But Zard didn't answer him, just quietly looking at Dayu's direction.
He saw the 30 Flying God Woman rushing towards Dayu. If Dayu was still carrying Chen Ningzhi, he would definitely not be able to escape.
But Zard was more worried that Dayu would lose his mind and kill back.
The Chen Family painter had no such thing as a breakthrough on the battlefield. Even if you break through to Demi-God, you have to repaint to give the painting the power of Demi-God.
The gods painted when they were A-Class, even if their master became Demi-God, they were still A-Class.
Only the gods painted at the Demi-God level can have the power of Demi-God.
This is why Chen Yu only had dozens of paintings in total.
Therefore, the Chen Family lineage has always had two paths. One is to pile up the quantity after reaching B-Class and A-Class, or to continue to go up, becoming Demi-God and winning by quality.
Zard looked quietly.
Dayu also looked back, his gaze passing through the gap between the Flying God Woman, looking at Zard, who was like a god in the sky.
Zard suddenly smiled: "Don't look back."
The morning sun pierced through the thin clouds and reached the ground. His face and body gradually showed cracks, like the bottom of a dried-up lake, cracking into cracks under the sun.
At this time, Dayu suddenly took off the mask from his face.
In an instant, the mask in Dayu's hand transformed into a huge Maine Coon cat.
The Maine Coon was six meters tall, its muscles knotted and hidden under its long hair.
Zard exclaimed: "Wow."
Dayu looked at Zard one last time, jumped onto Da Fu's back, and grabbed its fur.
Da Fu ran wildly towards the distance. Even with two people on its back, its speed was still faster than the Flying God Woman!
Zard was relieved.
It was as if he had not waited in vain for a summer, and finally waited for the golden autumn, without regret, not alone.
The Chen Family painter, controlled by the Puppeteer, asked from afar: "Isn't your own life the most precious? Why give up yourself to save others?"
"You don't understand," Zard responded with a smile, and the two stopped fighting, quietly waiting for time to pass.
The Puppeteer shook his head: "I finally managed to escape from underground. The fire base needs to extract breathing fluid from our culture dishes. If I hadn't unexpectedly awakened that time, I probably would have died there. After crawling out of the ground, some people wanted to sell my organs, some people wanted to kill me, and I almost starved to death. You may not believe it, but to survive those years, my original body even worked in a coal mine... It's so hard to live, why give up your life?"
Zard thought for a moment and said: "Maybe it's because I don't want to be the one left behind this time."
As soon as he finished speaking, his body began to turn into sand.
The surging tentacles turned into flying sand along with Zard himself, scattered on the ground, never to be seen again.
...
...
Dayu carried his mother on Da Fu's back, tightly grabbing its fur.
The large gray cat ran wildly on the plain, Dayu's expression was calm, showing no signs of abnormality.
At this time, Chen Ningzhi, controlled by the Puppeteer, woke up: "Don't you feel sad?"
Dayu said coldly: "Shut up."
The Puppeteer said: "The black leaf vine is strange. It's just a vine, yet it can lock up powerful humans."
Dayu asked: "How is Zard?"
The Puppeteer shrugged: "I don't know either. Haven't you all figured it out? Puppets can't communicate across long distances. But I guess he's turned into a handful of sand."
After speaking, the Puppeteer looked back at the Flying God Woman behind him: "They're still chasing."
Dayu asked: "Does each puppet have its own independent thoughts?"
"Of course," the Puppeteer laughed: "We're always worried about other puppets showing their feet, which ends up killing everyone... The big cat you suddenly summoned is the second-order form of Forbidden Artifact ACE-005, right? Amazing. But can it exist forever, or can it only exist for a while? I feel like it might have the peak strength of A-Class. It shouldn't be used without restriction, right? You've been riding it for about six hours, how long can it still run?"
Dayu's heart tightened.
The Puppeteer was right. Da Fu's second-order form could only last six hours. If he couldn't get rid of the Flying God Woman, he would be in danger.
It wasn't a matter of whether he was afraid of death. He didn't want Zard's efforts to be in vain.
At this time, the outline of a forest appeared in the distance. The Puppeteer was somewhat surprised: "Forbidden Zone 002? How did you get here?"
A giant tree stood in the center of the vast forest. Dayu roared loudly: "Ding Dong!"
A giant stood on the trunk looking towards them. Ding Dong only saw Dayu but not Zard's figure. He climbed to the top of the World Tree, to the Vermillion Bird's nest: "Ding Dong!"
(Help him!)
The Vermillion Bird glanced at him but didn't respond.
Ding Dong became anxious: "Ding Dong!"
(Otherwise, I'll tear down your nest! They helped the Forbidden Zone's small animals build houses!)
The Vermillion Bird rolled its eyes. Who would have thought that the good boy Ding Dong would start threatening people. It spread its wings and let out a long cry.
Above the tree crown, thousands of birds flew out with the Vermillion Bird, arriving at the edge of the Forbidden Zone in a few breaths, knocking the 30 God Woman seven ways to Sunday.
Da Fu ran wildly, and as it was about to reach the Forbidden Zone, it suddenly dissipated, turning back into a mask.
Dayu and Chen Ningzhi fell from the sky unprepared, rolling several times on the ground.
Dayu looked up at the battle in the sky, not knowing what he was thinking.
Footsteps came from behind.
He turned to look and saw Ding Dong running down from the tree crown: "Ding Dong!"
(Where's the other one?)
Dayu forced a smile. He didn't understand Ding Dong.
Ding Dong pointed at Dayu's hand, and the next second, the burly giant wept.
Dayu was stunned.
This scene had happened before. When Qing Zhun left, Ding Dong saw Qing Chen's heart, and it was this sad.
He picked up his mother again and patted Ding Dong's hand, signaling him to lead the way. The Guardians' Union had left a Key Gate in the center of Forbidden Zone 002.
The two walked into the Forbidden Zone. When they passed a small stone road, Dayu suddenly froze.
He saw a small sculpture in the grass by the roadside, depicting him, Zard, Qing Chen, and others, like workers, peasants, and soldiers at the entrance of a state-owned enterprise, making a fighting pose.
Zard wanted to make a bigger one but was stopped, but he made a small one and hid it here.
Dayu walked over and knelt down, and saw a sentence written on the base of the sculpture: "Not a single one less."
He suddenly burst into tears.
...
...
Outside City 7, countless loose sands suddenly seeped into the ground. Grain by grain, they gently gathered together, finally squeezing out a small space underground, forming a heart, beating slightly.
The sand grains gathered towards the heart one by one, slow but firm...